Russia adds textbooks on occupied Ukrainian territories to school curriculum

The Russian Ministry of Education has approved a new federal list of recommended school textbooks, including publications devoted to the history of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Source: Kherson-based media outlet Most; human rights centre ZMINA; Russian media outlet SOTA

Details: In particular, a textbook titled History of Our Region. Donbas and Novorossiya has been approved for pupils in Years 5-7 in Russia (aged approximately 10-14 years old). It presents the history of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts in a distorted manner and exclusively through the lens of a Russian imperial narrative.

The Russian ministry claims that the course is "objective" and forms part of a "unified history of Russia". Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov claimed that the new textbook contains "real information" in contrast to "Ukrainian textbooks" and will become compulsory in all schools in the "new regions".

According to the occupation authorities, the propaganda materials are due to be delivered to schools in the occupied territories from 1 September 2026.

Human rights defenders and intelligence officials stress that Russia is carrying out the forced re-education of Ukrainian children through such educational programmes, severing their links with their homeland and preparing young people for subsequent forced service in Russia's armed forces to fight against their own country.

Background:

• Russia has consistently used school education as a tool of propaganda and an instrument for erasing Ukrainian identity in the temporarily occupied territories
• It emerged in May 2026 that a Russian Year 9 (students aged approximately 14-15) social studies textbook edited by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, showed not only occupied Ukrainian territories but also the liberated city of Kherson as part of Russia on its map.
• Occupation authorities had also previously introduced standardised history textbooks edited by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in educational institutions in the temporarily occupied territories. The books contain distorted historical facts and seek to justify Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.
• Large-scale Russian attacks on Ukrainian printing companies and logistics warehouses have destroyed nearly 1.2 million school textbooks.

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